Henri Lequien and Catherine Berthin

The picture above shows my maternal uncle Henri Clotaire Lequien, his wife
Catherine Berthin,
and their oldest son Paul Lequien.
Henri was born in Senonches, France on November 10, 1897.
Henri and Catherine were married about 1919.
The picture dates from about 1925.

Both Henri and his father Clément fought in World War I. Henri
suffered a leg wound in the first world war which hampered him slightly
for the rest of his life. During the second World War he owned a café
and sold coal during the winter months. Later he owned a liquor store
and also worked as a game warden at Les Gaudiaux near Toulon sur Arroux,
France. Henri and Catherine had two sons:

Paul Lequien, seen in the photo above, was born in
Toulon aur Arroux in 1920.
He drowned in an accident on July 7, 1941 when he was 21 years old.
He is buried with his father Henri in Toulon sur Arroux.

Robert Lequien was born in 1932. His school chums called him
"can-can" as a pun on his name and his love of music and dancing.
Robert was a dental technician before serving in the French army
during the Algerian conflict. He married Jeanine Remy and they
had three children. Robert died in an auto accident in
1975. Following a minor collision with another automobile, Robert
was being transported to a hospital in an ambulance. His original
wounds were minor. A cyclist cut off the ambulance which swerved
and collided with a tree.
Robert was ejected from the ambulance, suffering severe trauma.
He spent the next month in a hospital, recovering slowly but steadily,
until he suffered a fatal embolism. Catherine was so grief-stricken
that she had outlived both of her children that she insisted Robert
be brought to her home town of Tavernay for burial.

Sons of Henri and Catherine Lequien:
Paul (left) and Robert (right).
About 1936.

Robert Lequien in high school.
About 1946.

Robert Lequien in his army uniform.
About 1960.

Henri died at his home in Les Gaudiaux
in January, 1958 from cancer. He is buried in Toulon sur Arroux
with his son Paul.

I met Catherine Berthin Lequien
at her home in Tavernay, France in 1979 when I traveled there with my
parents. That was the first time in over thirty years that my mother and her
sister-in-law Catherine had seen each other.
Catherine died in March, 1990.